ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of the book. This book outlines the contours of a political economy of meat to show how institutions and conglomerates work to transform the production models of pig farming in Poland and Malaysia. It focuses on technology and biopolitics to show how they have become central tools in dramatically altering both the mode of production of food animals as well as our very perceptions of food animals as sentient beings. The book highlights the ramifications of commodifying animals (as food) and how solutions to address some of the negative ramifications are simultaneously constrained by such commodification, even as they attempt to reframe meat animals as fleshy, sentient beings. A neoliberal political economy thrives by producing and selling ever more goods. Food in general, including food animals, extends beyond being mere consumerist products as it has significant geopolitical and security ramifications.
